Cruel Summer: Racing's slide continues after a collapse against the Courage
Louisville limps into the summer break in their worst form since 2021.
“Nobody’s happy”
On Sunday, Racing Louisville fell 3-1 to the North Carolina Courage in Cary, NC. Despite a strong start that saw Racing take the lead off a goal by forward Reilyn Turner, North Carolina adjusted at the half and sliced up the visitors by scoring three goals in just 14 minutes.
“Nobody's happy about what just happened,” assistant coach Carmelina Moscato said after the match. Moscato stepped in for head coach Bev Yanez after Yanez announced she had tragically suffered a miscarriage earlier this week.
This match was a tale of two halves in every sense of the word. In the first half, Racing stayed compact and managed to hold a surprising amount of control against the most possession-dominant team in the National Women’s Soccer League. In the second half, however, North Carolina changed their entire front line and the whole trajectory of the match changed.
Racing lost all sense of cohesion in the second half. There was no collective movement as lines were stretched repeatedly. Pockets of space were created that were all too easy for North Carolina to exploit.
“To be honest, I'm really, really upset with our performance in the second half,” defender Arin Wright said. “This team, we need to learn how to be able to see out a game for the full 90 minutes, not just 45 minutes. I would say that's the biggest takeaway: Can we do the performance we did in the first half in the second half of the game? And I think beyond all that, like this game had more meaning for us, so to not get the result for Bev hurts the most.”
By the numbers
This is an interesting game because, for a match against the North Carolina Courage, it’s actually one of the better matches Racing has played. That is an admittedly low bar, considering Racing has never beaten the Courage or even drawn a point against them. However, this match is the first time they ever even held a lead against North Carolina. But, as we discuss in the new episode of the Butchertown Rundown podcast (out Wednesday morning) it’s the hope that kills you.
As mentioned, this match was a tale of two halves. That’s most clearly seen in possession. In the first half, Racing had a very respectable 47% against the highest-possessing team in the league. In the second half, that dropped to a sliver over 30% and ended the game with only 39% for Racing overall.
At the end of the match, Racing had 0.7 xG to North Carolina’s 1.92 xG. A full 1.83 of the Courage’s xG came in the second half. Overall, the Courage had double Racing’s touches in the opposition’s box (33 to 16). They also had 47% more passes than Racing (590 to 372) with almost half of them coming in the second half.
In terms of individual performances, it would be remiss not to shout out Reilyn Turner for her goal. Although a rookie, Turner knows a thing or two about scoring at WakeMed Park considering her equalizer helped UCLA win a championship there in 2022. With this goal, Turner moved to second in the league for rookies with goal contributions and 12th in the league overall.
With four losses and one draw in their last five matches, Racing heads into the summer break with the worst record over this same period of any team in the NWSL. They are also on their worst string of performances since their inaugural season. There’s no question something has to change.
Key takeaways
Shaken up…
This match started with a very interesting lineup. Elexa Bahr and Emma Sears were removed from the starting eleven. Instead of Bahr, Turner started as the center forward, and, in the biggest surprise, midfielder Savannah DeMelo started on the right wing. DeMelo was moved in part to accommodate the return of holding midfielder Jaelin Howell. Howell slotted in next to Taylor Flint who pushed Marisa DiGrade forward which, in turn, pushed DeMelo out wide. DeMelo, who is typically the No. 10 for Racing is more than capable of playing out wide and has done it a couple of times in the past, but it’s far from her best position.
It seems the priority was getting Howell, Flint, and DiGrande all on the pitch at the same time. The idea was to shut down any buildup down the center of the pitch and, to be fair, it worked out well in the first half. It will be interesting to see if this shakeup persists, however, because the midfield is an area that fell apart badly in the second.
Ultimately, whether this was an experiment or a more permanent change, it was nice to see something new after some fairly stagnant starting lineups. This did seem to take the Courage by surprise, at least. But Racing’s failure to anticipate and absorb the adjustments by North Carolina was a disappointment.
In this author’s opinion, it seems odd that Sears — unquestionably one of Racing’s best attackers this season — wasn’t started on the right next to Turner with DeMelo on the left where she’s played more consistently. Turner and Sears have proven chemistry and as fellow rookies, they’re the future of Racing’s attacking line. So why aren’t they getting more minutes together? This would also have removed Kayla Fischer from the starting lineup. And while Fischer had a better match against North Carolina, she drew yet another yellow bringing her total to seven and one away from a second yellow card accumulation suspension. This is quickly becoming an untenable situation for her.
For the first time this season, Ary Borges came back for a handful of minutes at the end of the match which means even more shakeups in the starting line are likely imminent and that’s probably not a bad thing. Figuring out how to fit all the best players on the pitch together might be a bit challenging and it might bruise some egos, but that’s what will need to happen to find the best starting eleven.
…Rattled…
Yet again, this was a match marred with costly mistakes. While it’s true that the Courage’s attacking changes at half-time reinvigorated their side, Racing arguably lost the match by getting in their own way yet again.
The ultimate goal-winner came off an error by keeper Kate Lund. She miscleared the ball directly to a pressing opponent who followed it up with a perfect chip before Lund could get back in goal. While not the worst goal-keeping error in the NWSL this season, it was still pretty egregious.
While no one else made errors quite as overt as this, it doesn’t mean they played that much better. Howell was consistently leaving space open for Courage midfielder Ashley Sanchez to exploit. Centerback Abby Erceg was rattled and had a few uncharacteristic giveaways. Outerbacks Lauren Milliet and Carson Pickett got beaten consistently. Flint wasn’t anywhere as dynamic as she has been. Things truly just fell apart in the second half all over the pitch.
“I think we as a team kind of lost our way on our formation and how we were going to do our press and just being together as a unit,” Wright said. “You could see the gaps start to open up and those holes that we were closing in the beginning with our compact shapes started to get bigger and wider and they started to expose those. And then you…bring on the subs that they brought those attacking-minded subs they're going to slice and dice right through those holes.”
Rolled.
The thing that’s so worrying about this match is that this is the type of game that helps solidify mentalities. It will solidify the Courage’s belief in themselves as winners while conversely shaking up Racing’s already seemingly fragile belief in themselves. It’ll amplify the question marks that likely already exist in Racing players’ heads.
To be this far into the season and still lacking cohesion is concerning. Understandably, a team with a bunch of new players, several key injuries, and a new coach might take a bit of time to figure out how to put in a full 90-minute performance. However, sixteen games into a 26-game season, however, is far too long to still not have it figured out.
When this team is on the same page, you get brilliant spans of football. Far too often, though, it seems like players splinter and lose sense of how they’re supposed to be working collectively. Moscato took some responsibility for this and said that it’s the coach’s job to build the team’s identity until they have the maturity to do this consistently and this is something they have been working on diligently with Racing.
“It is the core of our work,” Moscato said. “I mean, that is exactly what we try to do every single day. So I wouldn't say we're not aware of it, but we're just as frustrated as you.”
Outside of what can be taught, it’s worth asking if all the players are as bought into the club as they need to be to be successful. It’s hard work to turn a struggling club into a winning team for the first time, but it’s impossible if everyone isn’t bought into the vision. From the outside, it’s clear something is off. That’s not implying that there’s anything catastrophic happening. A lack of chemistry and frustration or fear due to recent struggles is more than enough to disrupt a team’s mentality. But the constant splintering speaks to a need for the team to come back together and recommit themselves to Racing and the goals of the team over everything else. Luckily, the summer break is a great time to do that.
Looking Ahead
Wright said that the league-mandated week off that players are currently enjoying is a good time for everyone to step away and regroup.
“Professional sports can be mentally exhausting and I think it is time for everyone to take a break and come back in,” Wright said. “Just what we said in the huddle is when we come back this is a new start, this is a new half of the season and we wipe the slate clean and we start building our way back in.”
When Racing returns from their week-long break, they’ll head into the Summer Cup, a tournament between NWSL and Liga MX club. Racing will be facing Rayadas on July 20th at Lynn Family Stadium. In a bit of poor luck, they were drawn into a group with the North Carolina Courage and the still-unbeaten Orlando Pride. It’s hard to imagine a tougher group of opponents for Racing, but the fact all teams will be missing their Olympians and the fresh start of a new tournament may give them the boost they need.
Racing will also be hosting the Women’s Cup during this international break. The two-day tournament will take place in mid-August.
Great analysis as always.
Good stuff as always. Hoping the break will give them all some time to step away, simplify some things and remember why they love to play!